The Prince gets hit in the head with an apple, and there’s a little sword-fight, but nothing that bad.

Action:

Some chase scenes.

Laughs:

A couple.

Memorable Scene:

None come to mind.

Memorable Quote:

None come to mind.

Directed By:

Andy Tennant

Sometimes a movie is just, well, enjoyable. Such is “Ever After.”

The story is, well, similar to the fairy tale in that you have Danielle (Drew Barrymore) playing the stepdaughter of the wicked stepmother Rodmilla (Anjelica Houston). She has two stepsisters, the uppity Marguerite (Megan Dodds), and the nice, “if Danielle leaves I’m going to be stuck doing the cooking,” Jacqueline (Melanie Lynskey). Rodmilla wants Marguerite to marry Prince Henry (Dougray Scott), but Danielle and the Prince are falling in love as they sneak off to places together. So much for the likes of the original fairy tale, but that’s okay.

Let’s backpedal a little. The movie opens with an old lady telling the Brothers Grimm that the story of Cinderella is real, to a point, and she was there to set them straight. Switch to the story. Danielle’s dad marries Rodmilla, and Danielle is hoping for a nice mother because hers is dead. Well, as Danielle’s fate would have it, Dad has the big grabber as he is leaving and Danielle is left to live with Rodmilla and her new stepsisters. Doing whatever she can to please Rodmilla, Danielle just wants to be loved, even if that means doing servant duties for her step-mom. Anyway, one day in the fields, Prince Henry is running away from home because his father is arranging his marriage to some Spanish girl and Danielle bips him in the bean with an apple. She’s embarrassed that she just hit the prince, and the prince rides off tossing her some gold to keep her mouth shut. What to do with the money? Well, one of her old servants is being sent off to America because, well, being framed by Rodmilla, and Danielle poses as a countess type to get him out of jail. In the end, to do so, she must plead his case to the prince, who doesn’t recognize her as the servant girl, and in doing so the prince becomes enamored with her spunky attitude. And such love blooms.

Keeping a long story short, and not giving much more away, Danielle poses as a countess some more, the Prince falls in love, has a ball (they call it a mask), Danielle “the servant” is exposed, she runs from the ball losing her glass slipper, and in the end they all live happily ever after.

Yea, this movie is more of a chick-flick than a guy-loving action movie, and the younger girls will probably love it, but hey, I’m a sensitive 90’s type of guy and really liked it. Barrymore played a great, spunky, servant girl who is always willing to challenge a thought, Huston was just so wicked I couldn’t believe it, although there was one scene where you almost felt she really had a heart, and Scott was pretty good as the prince too, not ready to take over the responsibilities of being king, nor understanding them. All in all, great performances throughout.

Sometimes kind of hokey, sometimes kind of funny, but just simply enjoyable. It’s the story of a fairy tale, and comes off as such, but that’s just what I was expecting. I got a little more. It’s 4 stars out of 5 for “Ever After.”